A fossilised bone from a dinosaur that once roamed Antarctica has been sitting unnoticed in a museum drawer for decades. Now, British scientists have identified it as the first of its kind from the frozen continent. The discovery, published in the journal Cretaceous Research, exposes a scandalous oversight in scientific record-keeping and raises questions about what else might be hidden in plain sight.
The bone, a fragment from the leg of a mosasaurus, was unearthed during a 1980s expedition but never properly catalogued. It languished in a storage room at the Natural History Museum in London until a team from the University of Cambridge stumbled upon it while reviewing old collections. "This is a monumental find that should have been made years ago," said Dr. Sarah Johnson, lead author of the study. "It tells us that dinosaurs lived in Antarctica later than we thought, and it challenges our understanding of their extinction."
Mosasaurus were not true dinosaurs but marine reptiles that lived alongside them. The bone dates back to the late Cretaceous period, around 70 million years ago. At that time, Antarctica was warmer and forested, but the presence of a mosasaurus suggests a marine environment existed close to the continent.
The researchers used CT scans to confirm the bone's identity and trace its origin. They found that it matched fossils from New Zealand and Patagonia, indicating that mosasaurus could have migrated across the Southern Ocean. "This changes the map of where these creatures lived," said Dr. Johnson. "But it also reveals a system that failed to prioritise such discoveries."
The bone's journey from field to drawer is a cautionary tale. Collected by a British expedition in 1984, it was packed away and forgotten as funding and attention shifted. "The Antarctic fossil rush of the 1980s produced a wealth of material, but much of it was never studied," said Professor Andrew Smith, a palaeontologist not involved in the study. "This find is a missed opportunity turned into a second chance."
Critics say the delay underscores a broader problem in science: the neglect of museum collections. Millions of specimens sit uncatalogued in institutions worldwide, potential breakthroughs gathering dust. "We are sitting on a goldmine of information, but the will to mine it is lacking," said Dr. Johnson. "This bone could have told us about climate change and extinction decades ago."
The discovery has implications for current climate research. Antarctica's past warming events could inform models of future change. "If mosasaurus lived there 70 million years ago, ecosystems can adapt but at a cost," said Dr. Johnson. "We are losing that history because we are not looking."
Sources confirm that the Natural History Museum has launched a review of its backlog of Antarctic fossils. But questions remain: How many other treasures are hidden in drawers? And who is accountable for the oversight? The bone itself is now on display, a reminder of what happens when science falls asleep at the wheel.
